*UPDATE* October sales data are in: Wii shatters records once again!

Just before the official sales estimates (for America) were released Reggie Fils-Anime, President of Nintendo of America, predicted that the Wii would have sold around 450k in October. That is already quite a heafty number - extremely high expectations? Not quite. More like - way off the mark because the real figure is almost DOUBLE that. Un-farking-believable. Look:

Ninetendo Wii: 803,000;

Nintendo DS: 491,000;

Xbox 360: 371,000;

Sony PSP: 193,000;

PS3: 190,000;

PS2: 136,000.

Combined, both Nintendo devices on the market have sold 1.29 million units in October alone... in America alone. The PS2 - the best selling console EVER, didn't ever have this momentum. Very healthy for Nintendo. Software estimates have also been released with Fallout 3, for the Xbox 360, taking the top spot and deservedly so. Mario Kart Wii, Wii Fit as well as Wii Play are still occupying top spots from the top ten list! I am amazed at the shelf life of these games. Wii Play is probably selling because of the Wii Remote packaged with it - which is cheaper that then stand-alone controller. *WTF?!*

UPDATE: Nintendo have released an official statement in reaction to the October NPD sales data:

Wii™ and Nintendo DS™ topped the U.S. sales charts and combined to sell more than 1.29 million units in October. Nintendo sold 803,210 Wii consoles and 491,176 Nintendo DS systems in October, according to the independent NPD Group, which tracks video game sales in the United States. These figures bring the lifetime U.S. sales for Wii to more than 13.35 million and Nintendo DS to more than 23.02 million, extending their leads as the best-selling hardware of this generation.

Nintendo’s total hardware unit sales represent a 25.7 percent increase over October 2007. They also account for 59.3 percent of the industry’s total hardware unit sales.

Wii Fit™, the game that combines fun and fitness, sold nearly half a million copies in the United States in October, six months after it launched. The lifetime U.S. sales for Wii Fit now total more than 2.83 million.

“Nintendo provides consumers with the best value not only among video games, but also among most entertainment options,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Nintendo also provides an incomparable range of experiences that everyone can enjoy, whether you’ve been playing for years or are just getting into video games.”

Three games made for Nintendo systems placed in the top five best-selling games of the month, including Wii Fit™ at No. 2 with 487,234 copies sold, Mario Kart Wii™ at No. 4 with 289,869 copies sold and Wii Play™ at No. 5 with 281,844 copies sold.

Roo

PS: The world is currently deep in recession, especially America, and still the gaming market is shattering record after record. This must be one of the heathiest markets in the world. Brilliant!